Yes...they were absolutely great! My father was a member of said generation...shot down during WWII over Bastogne, Belgium, and survived. He was the pilot of his cargo plane, and was trying to fly in more ammunition to the Allied Troops. He bailed out late, so was not captured by the Germans. His entire crew were captured, and all of them died...one of them on a forced march during the winter without a coat...which had been stolen from him during the winter march by his German captors. "Smitty". as they called him, died of pneumonia during that march. The rest of my father's crew died in POW camps afterward.
My father volunteered for service, BTW, as soon as he heard the call.
When he escaped from his plane it was on fire, and he was burned...but managed to hide under pine needles on the forest floor, in sight of German patrols, and eventually made his way into Bastogne...just in time for the seige.
Because he was wounded and separated from his command, he was placed in a church with many others...and the shelling by the Germans was so close that the church shook and plaster dust rained down on them from the ceiling.
After he made his way back to his command, he came home to small town Nebraska where his wife and son were waiting. He continued to serve. He was stationed in Japan during the Korean war, supposedly to teach Japanese farmers American farming methods, and I had joined my family by then.
My father, like so many others of his generation, was a true Boy Scout at heart. Some might have called him naive...but he was so filled with honor and love of country that he risked his life, and nearly lost it! AND he would have done that as many times as he was asked!
@Patriot96 They didn't even KNOW about PTSD back then. My Uncle Charles was severely wounded in the arm at Iwojima...(an absolutely gruesome wound which took out most of his upper arm)...and never received psychiatric treatment. He took up drinking for the pain, and eventually blew his brains out with a shotgun in his pickup truck. His two sons found him.
In my family, that generation was inspirational....many in my family served in the war, and my father-in-law helped to liberate the concentration camps in Europe. My father stayed stateside and trained others who served in combat. My uncle served in a communications unit that kept people in contact from the front lines. Whether volunteers or draftees, these men served admirably and without complaint. They didn’t name themselves “the greatest generation”, but were named that by those who found their conduct admirable.
Most of the comments are about WWII, but let's remember they also survived the great depression, without government stimulus, unemployment, and food stamps. They had soup kitchens and the government established work programs, so people could earn government assistance.
@lasergraph My father was a child during the Great Depression. He and his family were very hungry, but they always had applesauce on the back of the stove, from the apple tree in the back yard, and they usually had bread...but no milk.
SW-User
I’m not sure, yes they were brave and fought but it wasn’t exactly optional. I don’t know why people feel the need to compare and compete with each other. Each generation lived in a completely different world, different technology and different norms. I don’t think any one is better than any other
I think we owe them a lot. If there was no WWII, would they still be great? Not sure. I do feel people were tougher back then. Even my Dad's generation was tougher.
People seem to remember only that this was the generation that fought in WWII. People forget this is also the generation. That were born and raised during WWI, reached adulthood during the Roaring ‘20’s, saw it all come crashing down during the Great Depression, rebuild the country with the New Deal and after all that go at fight in WWII. Now you tell me what generation has been through so much?
SW-User
A "generation", any generation, were all individuals with individual stories, all with varied attributes.
Maybe instead of glorifying them or taking the piss we simply look at ourselves with a critical eye?
It's just a label that someone stuck on a group of people, but considering what was accomplished during their time and the hardships they endured, yeah they were pretty great. Of course, every generation has its moments, but "the greatest generation" produced the world we both enjoy today that also contains many of the problems because of what they did and didn't do, knowingly and unknowingly. Overall though, I think they did a great job with what they had and deserve credit for it. In my experiences, people from that generation are interesting and fun to speak with, are respectful and filled with awe, have regrets, and tried their best. And, they did accomplish some pretty monumental things.
We can only hope future generations will revere us for our contributions and forgive us for our transgressions.
@CountScrofula Sorry for missing the humor in your post. I'm often on the other end of that problem. On here jokes generally don't work unless you say "Joke" - which takes the fun right out of joking. 🫤
Yes. They knew hard work and sacrifice, and just got on with it without whining. They were far superior to the whinging crybabies of today’s Woke who need their safe spaces because someone used a word that offended them.
@Carissimi bullshit.. they just knew how to get to work on time and get their salary on time. There was nothing to sacrifice as they had no other option.
@BritishFailedAesthetic idiots told us that they have given birth to us in a democracy, but never knew wtf democracy was all about and thought them getting to vote a crook with limited choice is democracy.
I've never thought of whole generations of people as being great or not great. I'm not even convinced that there's a useful definition of a 'generation' except in the context of individuals in a specific family. It's just another of those labels, that mindless mob mentality, that gets substituted for actual thinking about things.
Not really. They just knew how to praise and appreciate themselves to their next generation who arrive as children who are forced to believe in what they say. But in reality they were the ones who rendered the future in a deprived life.
@RosaMarie as a little girl growing up in a mostly Italian-American community I remember the old Italian Moms still having their service flags in the window and so many had gold stars on them. Grandpa was a Vet and I'll never forget his funeral with full military honors
@RosaMarie Grandpa was awarded the purple heart and my Moms uncle was shot down over Germany and was a POW until being freed by American troops. Neither ever spoke of their service. can imagine it must have been hell at times
In my community that generation was pretty remarkable indeed. Many of those who served, volunteered. Before the Tuskegee Airmen, a few blacks who wanted to become aviators had to serve in the RAF or the French Air Service, because in the U.S. black applicants were rejected. In WWII, they served in segregated troops, and helped defeat the Nazis, to return home to existing Jim Crow segregation laws. In spite of that, most didn’t teach their children or grandchildren to hate in return.
The people I've known from that generation certainly WERE great. I'm not going to make a sweeping generalization about millions or people, nor am I going to ignore some of the improvements made since then, but yes, I think they faced some adverse times with grace.
@SandWitch And a Nazi a bomb on London or Los Angeles would be fine. The Axis did not care about civilians. They had no conscience, how many Russians did they slaughter, over Five Million. How many jewish people did they make lampshades out of. How many Chinese, Islanders, and Philippinos did they rape, murder, torture. I’m sorry for the Bomb but we would have conventionally bombed them to hell if not. If they had it you actually think they wouldn’t have used it on us? Think again.
I agree with almost everyone but you. It was a time of terrible choices. Many people made courageous ones, some didn't. It's safe to assume the choices made by nations were not necessarily based on morality, but on national expediency.
Personal decisions WERE often based on morality. My parents had just lost their first child at the age of three days when they jointly decided Dad should enlist. He was in Europe for three years and they each had to grieve alone. He wanted to be a fighter pilot, but the psychological tests said he didn't reveal a killer instinct.
I wasn't there and neither were you. But I did know many of our returning soldiers - and you didn't.
Every generation is composed of heroes and scoundrels.
We had fewer scoundrels then.
But that generation, like any other, was not homogenous.
Do you dare to denigrate the group of people that stepped up to combat massive evil during WW II, that rolled up their sleeves and built the roads and buildings during the 30's? They are your Great Grandfathers/Grandmothers and Great Great Grandfathers/Grandmothers, you would not exist without them. Modern men pale by comparison.
